I have lived at my current home for 28 years. In that time, I have had the extreme pleasure of having 3 German Shorthaired Pointers, a west Highland White Terrier, and our current extended family - a toy and a standard Poodle as my friends and companions. All the dogs were loved to the Nth degree and never mistreated in any way. That said, one of the first commands these dogs were taught is "NO". They are made to understand that when their behavior is unacceptable, the "NO" command means STOP IMMEDIATELY and that if they do not stop, I am immediately ready to make them stop. Each of these dogs was trained as a puppy to stay OUT of the gardens. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but, if your dog(s) will not obey your command, the dog is training you to be subordinate in the pack. Your dog must know exactly who is boss and that it is not him/her. I can raise my hand as though I was going to hit my dogs, or pull back my foot as though I was going to kick them and they will not respond by flinching or cowering because they are never abused. While training the dogs I use a 4 ft piece of dowel rod as an aid. I do not strike the dogs, I only use it to tap the dogs for attention or to move their position. Often, I only tap the ground for attention. The dogs recognize the training aid as a symbol of dominance - even though I never strike them. When I pick it up, the dogs are immediately attentive. Tapping the stick on the ground or carpet has about the same effect as an alpha dog growling at a subordinate. Our dog's main fault is they think everyone is their friend come over to play. If you came to my home, they would want to nudge you to solicit pets. If I tell them no & they forget or ignore the command, I simply pick up the stick without saying anything. The dogs immediately are reminded they are subordinate and give up their aberrant behavior. This is not cruel, nor does it cause your dog to shun or hate you. Our dogs are extremely loving, seeking our constant companionship, and have no fear of being "punished". A stern word puts them in a submissive posture and anxious to please, unlike many other dogs I've seen that are obviously afraid of being struck. From this you can gather that my advice is to establish yourself as pack leader and never give a command you are not immediately in position to insure the dog will comply with. Al

There are a few of the (much tougher) species tulips you might like to try. Firstly, the tiny t.humilis, in various colours. Taller, but lovely with blooms which open flat like little flying saucers - tulipa clusiana, aka the lady tulip - pink and white or pale yellow and soft red. T,Tarda - small yellow and white, very easy and will increase T.batalini - my favourites (apart from sprengeri - more later) - lovely glaucous foliage and pale yellow or apricot blooms - very reliable T.praestans, t.hageri, t.vvedensky (sp?) - all reds and oranges - often multi-headed, larger fatter leaves T,urumiensis - a tiny bronze and pale yellow. T,albo-caerulea - expensive but unique blue and white blooms Finally, my favourite (and last to bloom) the lovely t.sprengeri. These use root droppers to dig themselves 14inches deep into the soil and have tiny bulbs - unlikely to be eaten and are the only tulips which will grow in some shade. A lovely woodland clearing specimen. I find that the species tulips, as long as they get good drainage and a dry baking in summer, are totally reliable, easy and are often less devoured by other rodents....as well as being more interesting and unusual than the garden tulips (although I grow many of both).

do NOT confuse some type of problem .. with normal winter coloration or damage .... which is hard to determine, without a picture ... recent transplants... up to 3 years after such.. are more harshly impacted by winter ... as they are not established ... it is hard to say the voles are doing anything to the plant as per the above ... any chance at a picture .. as to replacement... i would give them all of this summer to see what happens.. the sales are usually back in fall ... at the other proper planting time ... ken

Thanks for the feedback, bboy and Reg. I'm just curious about growing the Calochortus and Liatris, but am really interested in the Aralia, Spikenard. Mountain Rose herbs sells the powdered root for $26 per pound. I'm just in the research stage of deciding what to grow next year. I've been using the USDA database to look up plants, and they don't break the maps down below the state level, so I was not aware of the difference between B. deltoides and sagittata, thanks for pointing that out. I guess I need to find better sites for information. My interest in sagittata is because it is rated better on the Plants for a Future website, 4 for edibility and 2 for medicinal than deltoides, which only rates 1 for medicinal, and also because 2 seed companies I have found offer B. sagittata, none deltoides. Also, it may be wet here in the winter, but it is very dry in the summer, dry enough to satisfy plants that do not want any summer water. My objectives at present are to find plants that are successful with little or no irrigation, and hopefully are natives or else useful in one or several ways. Dalea purpureum is rated 2 for edibility, 1 for medicinal, while the white Prairie clover is rated 3 for edibility, but I don't like white flowers as much, so the edibility factor here is just for curiosity. Neither is native here. Geum urbanum is rated 3 and 3. It is supposed to have a spicy or cinnamony tasting root. It is not a native or able to live in dry soil, both strikes against it. Anyway, I'm currently just considering various plants, trying to picture if they could fit in with my dry soil and voles. What is your favorite website that will tell you the locations of wildflowers in Washington? I just found www.pnwflowers.com and http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Balsamorhiza&Species=sagittata which do come up with maps. I guess from the standpoint of providing food for local wildlife I should perhaps stick with native plants. That is a consideration but usefulness for me is also a factor, not every plant has to be a native for me to grow it, or I'd have to get rid of a lot of stuff already growing in my yard. And most of the wildflower nurseries I've been finding so far offer mostly eastern or southern natives, which is not surprising after looking at a lot of plants on the USDA site and finding most are not native in the PNW. Here is a link that might be useful: Aralia